Hiroshi?
by Ace Hart Hunter
Summary: Hiroshi. Plain and simple. He just is...right? Read and review s'il-vous-plait? Hiro-centric. Will contain romance later on.
1. Clues

My first try at Gravi fiction! Yay!

This will eventually be romance… but at this point… well read and see, okies?

R&R… I want at least 5 reviews before I post chapter 2, which has already been completed. I want to see if you guys actually enjoy this first.

Disclaimer: I own nothing… but I wouldn't mine owning K or Hiro…or Ryuichi…

K watched critically as his charges worked through Rage Beat. Shuichi's vocals and Suguru's playing were dead on. They both sounded absolutely amazing today, never better. However, both K and Sakano had noticed that Hiroshi was severely lacking in his guitar melodies, and had missed all his singing cues. That explained why the group was now going through Rage Beat for the fifteenth time today

 "Okay!" K shouted in English once they had finished their current set, but switching back to Japanese before he continued, "That's enough practice for today."

Sakano's eyes bugged right out of his glasses. "B-but… K-san! There is a concert next week!"

"Fortunately, it's not been announced yet, because at this point," K shot a sharp glance at Hiroshi. "We are no where close to being performance ready."

Sakano promptly transformed into tornado-mode, screamed like a banshee… and fainted. Meanwhile Shuichi was beaming at the 'good' news, and Sugaru was nodding thoughtfully.

"Now I can visit Yuuuuukiiii!" Shuichi cried happily, zooming out of the room in chibi-form. "Ja ne minna!"

"I have a lot of school work that has been lacking the attention it needs," Sugaru stated as he left. "I hope that tomorrow's practice will be more productive."

_Bad Luck_'s guitarist visibly deflated at the younger boy's sharp comment.

"Nakano-san," K pressed the barrel of his gun to Hiroshi's left temple. "What is your excuse for performing so badly?"

"Gomen nasai, K-sama," Hiroshi replied politely, and letting out a light sigh. "I've been… Ill recently."

K released the safety of his gun, responding in English. "Strike One! Try again!"

"N-nani?"

"Be more speci—" K stated firmly, stopping short as Hiro pressed a shaking hand to his forehead, gripping tightly to his manager's arm. "Hiro-kun?"

Hiro didn't reply, and K quickly replaced his gun in its holster. He gently lowered the fragile teen into a convenient chair.

"Hiro-kun?" K asked again, attempting to pry his arm from the guitarist's tight grip.

"I'm fine." Hiroshi stated weakly, slumping back into the cushioning of the chair.

"No. You're not," K stated firmly. "Tell me what is wrong with you Nakano-san."

"It's nothing." Hiro replied, lighting a cigarette. "I just haven't been sleeping very well recently."

K stared directly into Hiroshi's bloodshot grey eyes, causing the teenager to turn his head away after a few moments.

"You're not telling me something."

Hiroshi's eyes shot quickly back to his manager's, "There is nothing worth telling you K-san."

K frowned thoughtfully at the boy before him. Hiroshi looked incredibly frail just sitting there, long red bangs falling forward to cloak his eyes as he puffed lethargically on the cigarette dangling from his lips. The tall blond wondered how Hiroshi could even attempt to shrug off his near fainting spell. If K hadn't been there to steady him, _Bad Luck_'s guitarist would most likely be lying unconscious on the floor of the studio.

"Well hurry and pack away your guitar so that I can take you home."

"Nani?"

"You obviously need rest, and I can't trust you on your motorcycle because you'd most likely pass out and crash, breaking your skull and thereby ruining any chance that _Bad Luck_ has at surpassing _Nittle Grasper_. Like Shuichi said, they don't have a guitarist, so losing ours to a freak accident won't exactly help our album sales." K pointed out, trying to get Hiroshi to laugh.

His plan didn't work.

Hiroshi carefully placed his guitar in its case, placing it in its usual spot and standing slowly to avoid dizziness. He carefully brushed past K and towards the door.

"I will be fine to get home on my own, K-san."

"I don't think you quite understand _Hiro-kun_," K stated, gripping Hiroshi's shoulder tightly—hard enough to bruise, spinning him around and placing the gun against the red-head's temple once again. "You don't have a choice in the matter."

"Who am I to argue with a crazy _Gaijin _(1)manager?" 

"We're here!" K announced jovially as he pulled the deep red Ferrari into the parking lot behind Hiroshi's apartment building.

K glanced over at the passenger seat to gauge Hiroshi's reaction to having his manager about to enter his home, only to find that the boy had dozed off during the trip. He was slumped awkwardly in his seat and would fall over when the door was opened. K sighed, turned off his 'baby' and walked around to the passenger seat. He yanked open the door—ensuring that Hiroshi did not 'splat' on the ground—and began rooting through his pockets for a key.

"Aha!" K pulled the keys (and there were a lot of them: house, bike, bike lock, guitar case, mailbox, a tiny one that looked like it would fit into a journal, and another small one that K couldn't identify, and a key chain with the emblem of a red ribbon on it) from the red-head's left jacket pocket.

He carefully undid the seatbelt, scooped the slight man into his arms, locked the car door, entered the foyer of the apartment building [insert odd look from doorman], entered the elevator, passed by an old woman who was heading out for bingo [insert even stranger look], unlocked the apartment door—that was tricky, and deposited the young man into his bed all without waking him.

_Trouble Sleeping? _K thought to himself suspiciously. _More like trouble _**not**_ sleeping._

The blond pulled off the thin boy's shoes and dropped a quilt over him before giving himself a tour of the small apartment. He was finished in about 20 seconds and feeling incredibly bored. He juggled the keys still in his hand, being amused be the soft clinking sound.

_I'm as bad as Ryuichi._

In his boredom he decided to make a game of figuring out what the keys he could not identify were used for. That's what he told himself.

_I'm _**not**_ being a snoop. Really…_

There was nothing to unlock in the 'kitchen' (which was really just a corner of the main room). K was concerned however by the serious lack of food in the fridge and cupboards; apples, bread. butter….and cigarettes? K made a mental note to speak to the guitarist about his diet (or lack thereof) and left the kitchen.

The living room was, in a word, creepy. It was too freaking clean to be home to a teenage rock star. There was no dust anywhere, everything was in its proper place, and nothing was crowded or stuffed away messily. No empty pizza boxes, or crushed soda and beer cans. No clothes strewn about haphazardly. Nothing! The only indication that Hiroshi—or anyone for that matter—inhabited the tidy little box was the ashtray full of cigarette butts. It seemed as though the enigmatic guitarist was a bit of a chain smoker when he was alone.

K snickered, _He's like a nice, red-headed Yuki… how odd…_

K gave up on the living room and wandered into the bathroom. It, like the living room and kitchen, was sparkling clean and sparse of any personal ornamentation. _Bad Luck'_s manager felt a pang of sympathy for the slumbering red head.

_It's no wonder he puts up with Shuichi, he's the only bit of colour in this bland little life._

K was about to leave the bathroom as well when he spotted a small shiny thing to the right of the mirror over the sink.

It was a lock!

K was surprised, why would Hiroshi feel the need to lock a cabinet when he lived alone? Maybe it was because Shuichi stayed over so often…or perhaps it was where he kept his valuables?

K couldn't take the curiosity any longer and roughly shoved the smallest key into the lock and twisted it with a satisfying 'pop.' The door slowly opened to reveal….

Toothpaste, acne cream, and a dozen bottles of medication.

K carefully regarded each bottle, hoping for a clue to Hiroshi's sudden and mysterious ailment:

· _Extra-strength Sleeping Tablets_

· _Over the counter Vitamins_

· _Prescription Vitamins_

· _Tylenol_

· _Advil_

· _Buckley's Cough and Cold_

· _Pepto Bismal_

· _Claritin_

· _Dimetapp (grape flavored… not that it mattered. It would taste like chalk no matter what.)_

· _Vaporub_

· _Triziver _

· _Sustiva_

K carefully read the descriptions of the last two bottles:

_Triziver:_

Tokyo General Hospital 

555-1321

KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN

Nakano Hiroshi

300mg tablets

Ingest every 12 hours with water.

     Dr. J Kido

_Sustiva:_

Tokyo General Hospital 

555-1321

KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN

Nakano Hiroshi

600mg tablets

Ingest every 24 hours with or w/o water

     Dr. J Kido

_What the hell? _K thought to himself. _Where have I heard of these before?_

[(1) Gaijin is a rude term for someone who is not of Japanese Heritage… In most cases Hiro would never say such a thing… in most cases Hiro would not be this out of character either, but strange circumstances cause strange reactions]


	2. Suspicions

Hey ppls! Welcome to Chapter two!

Answers to my loving reviewers.

*** Glomps Everyone Who Reviewed ***

Call outs to me amigos!

Silverone:

Thanks so much! You're so sweet!

bebopin'-dreamer:

Yes and no, but not quite. You'll just have to wait and see to learn the truth. Hope this appeases your appetite for knowledge ^^

Evil Kasumi

You seem to have figured it out. * hands a cookie and a Kleenex * I don't think Shu-chan will react well at all.. but Shu can be rather odd can't he?

Since you guessed it so fast (I think) do you have any requests for future instances in this fic? Or in a side fic?

Wouldn't You Like To Know?

I would like to know. Where's my plushy? ^^

Amyzearing: 

I'm glad I got you thinking ^^ I like when what I write makes an impact.

Hiro is a sweetie isn't he?

And yes the keychain has significance * is proud that his subtle clue has been noticed *

Enjoy chapter 2!

K closed the cabinet and was about to lock it when he caught sight of a very angry looking pair of grey eyes glaring at him from the mirror. K spun around to face the furious guitarist, hand behind his head, and blush spreading across a face split by a goofy grin.

"It is rude to snoop through others' belongings K-san." The skinny red-head stated with a low voice, stepping around his manager and taking the bottles of Triziver and Sustiva from the cabinet. "Give me back my keys."

"Okay." K replied still unable to shake his stupid grin, and handing over the requested objects.

"Why are you still here?" Hiroshi asked adjusting the blanket that was thrown over his shoulders and heading for the kitchen with the two bottles of pills.

He pulled a tiny glass from a cabinet above the sink, filled it about ¾ of the way full, and dissolved the two large pills into it. He downed the contents of the glass in one swallow, shuddering with disgust at the presumably unpleasant taste.

"Why are you still here, K-san?"

K blanched, unable to remember why he'd stayed in the small apartment for the last… hour?!

"I… uh.. I wanted to take you to dinner when you woke up." K stated, quickly coming up with a cover story. "You've lost a lot of weight recently and you were already thin to begin with."

"No thank you." Hiroshi replied, ignoring the comment about his weight and returning the bottles to his medicine cabinet and locking it.

He returned to the living room to turn on the radio, deftly tuning to his favorite station. K was still standing awkwardly in the middle of his living room, seeming unsure of what to do. Hiroshi rolled his eyes and curled up on his couch, lighting up a cigarette. He watched K blankly for a few moments.

"Are you going to apologize or not?" Hiroshi asked quietly. "Because if you're not you can leave right now."

K's eyes widened drastically. "Eeep! I knew I was forgetting something important… I'm sorry Hiroshi-san."

The red-headed boy nodded thoughtfully, taking a long drag on his cigarette. "I'd still prefer if you left K-san."

K frowned, and sat down next to his guitarist, "What was the medication for?"

"Oh just the usual," Hiroshi replied easily. "Indigestion, insomnia, colds, headaches, allergies… you know, the usual."

K's eyes flashed angrily as he pointed his gun between the younger man's eyes, "You know which medication I'm speaking of. What is it for?"

"It's not important."

"If it wasn't important you would have told me by now." K stated releasing the safety of his gun.

Hiroshi sighed with obvious annoyance, "If I tell you will you leave? I need a chance to relax before Shuichi shows up in tears for his daily pep talk."

K rolled the idea over in his head. He really wanted to take Hiroshi to dinner; the boy was beginning to look like nothing more than a skeleton. However, he would be able to help the younger man more easily if he was aware of the problem.

Also, even if he was required by oath to leave now, it wouldn't stop him from coming back or speaking with the boy tomorrow. He lowered his firearm.

"Alright," K replied slowly. "I swear that if you tell me what the medication is for, I'll leave."

"You have to keep it a secret. No one else knows."

"Not even Shuichi?"

"Not even Shuichi."

"Fine then," K sighed. "I swear that if you tell me what the medication is for, I will leave and it will remain a secret between the two of us."

The red-head nodded, looking frightened. His eyes were just a bit too bright, and he looked like he might cry.

I am so evil…

***Laughs evilly***

Please review. Chapter three has already been written, and the answer you've been waiting for is in it. I promise ^^


	3. Surprises

_The guilt got to me! sobs so here you go! Oh loyal reviewers! humbly offers chapter three Please enjoy! And be very happy since I'm not done chapter four yet hides but... maybe I'll change that soon?_

_Go on, read about the secret now, I'm surprised you even read this! LOL_

_Disclaimer: Not mine. Never own Hiroshi-sama. Sobs_

Chapter 3:

"Hiro-kun?" K asked slowly, watching the boy's eyes closely to ensure that he didn't lie.

Hiroshi took a shaky breath; he'd never told anyone his secret before. It was harder than he'd expected it to be. He could feel the tears beginning to prickle at the corners of his eyes, and K didn't even know the truth yet!

The younger man took another deep breath and stabbed his cigarette out in the ashtray before him.

"Hiroshi-san," K began with more firmness than compassion. "What is the medication for?"

The red-head gulped, seeing the blond's gun hand twitch slightly.

He sniffed slightly, managing to choke out: "I'm HIV positive..."

K was shocked into absolute speechlessness. This had been entirely unexpected. When he'd first seen the medication he'd assumed that it was something much less severe. He'd thought that perhaps the boy had a sleeping disorder, or a stress disorder... or maybe even a mild mental problem like ADD or something... but this...

Crawd K. Winchester was stunned speechless.

"Please leave."

The blond snapped his head to the man beside him.

"Please leave now."

"Hiro...please don't d—"

"We had a deal K-san. If I told you my secret you said you would leave. You know the truth now, so please leave." Hiroshi stated firmly.

K nodded, "Fair enough... please get some rest Hiro-kun so that you will play well tomorrow?"

Hiroshi nodded curtly, "Please leave."

"Will you be alright to get to the studio tomorrow morning without your bike?"

"Yes. Leave."

"Goodnight Hiroshi-san." K stated, closing the door softly behind him.

The thin red-head automatically locked the door behind him. He switched off his stereo, turned out all of the lights, headed to the bathroom for a sleeping pill and collapsed limply onto his bed.

The tear stains on his pillow case were not his, they couldn't be...

They had to have been a souvenir left from Shuichi's last visit.

That was the only reasonable explanation after all...

Hiroshi walked into the recording studio the following morning with an air of professionalism about him. He still looked tired, gaunt and pale but he was obviously ready for work. His long red mane was pulled into a messy braid, and a small pair of sophisticated looking reading glasses were perched upon his nose. He was wearing an old gray sweatshirt that seemed to swallow him whole, and he was carrying a large steaming cup of coffee.

"Ohayo Suguru-kun," The red-head greeted pleasantly.

"Hey Hi—" The younger boy greeted looking up at the guitarist. "Hiro? You certainly look different, not that it matters as long as you're able to perform better than yesterday."

"Hai, I am." Hiroshi replied, moving to his guitar case and unlocking it.

"Would it be rude of me to ask what was going on with you yesterday?"

The older boy pulled the guitar onto his lap and began tuning it by ear, thankful that he no longer needed to rely on the tuner he'd used in high school.

"I'd rather not talk about it... why don't we do a quick run through of _Rage Beat_?"

"Okay," Suguru replied agreeably.

He started up _Rage Beat_, setting the tempo almost twice as fast as usual to see just how prepared their guitarist was for practice today. To the young keyboardist's surprise Hiroshi played the music they'd written with no problem whatsoever. He was right on tempo, right on cue, and right on pitch. It was almost as though this was a completely different Hiroshi than the sluggish one that had appeared yesterday. Suguru hoped that _that_ Hiroshi would not be returning anytime soon.

"That was excellent Hiro!" Suguru exclaimed happily.

Hiroshi mocked glared at him, "You were testing me!"

"Heh heh.." The green haired boy laughed nervously. "So what if I was?"

Hiroshi unexpectedly grinned, "You did a good job... think I'm ready for today's practice?"

"Yup."

"Good."

A familiar blond stepped into the recording studio, applauding lightly. He seemed pleased with the performance of the two young men and was smiling brightly.

"Excellent work you two, you sounded great." Tohma stated pleasantly. "And it is nice to see that you are back up to par Nakano-san."

"Arigato Seguchi-sama." Hiroshi replied with a bow to the company's president.

Tohma nodded, "I was afraid that I might have been required to hire a session guitarist... but I don't think that's necessary any longer, do you?"

"Iie..." Hiroshi replied hesitantly. "I should be okay now."

"He's way above par!" Suguru stated, clearly impressed with Hiroshi's improvement. "I don't know what was wrong with him yesterday, but he just played Rage Beat perfectly at twice the tempo."

"That's good to hear," Tohma replied graciously on his way out. "Oh Hiro, K wants to speak with you in his office. He said it was urgent."

"Okay, thanks. I'll go see to that now." Hiroshi replied, setting his guitar down gently. "I'll be back soon Suguru-kun."

"Ja ne!"

"Ja ne."

_Ta da! Feel free to hurl rocks at me now for being so evil to Hiro-chan._

_scuttles away_

_BTW, sorry it was so short! begs for forgiveness_

_urges all to press the pretty purple button and leave a comment_


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